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The Deadly Assassin
"The Deadly Assassin" is the third story of the fourteenth season of Doctor Who. Summary Part One ::"Through the millennia, the Time Lords of Gallifrey led a life of peace and ordered calm, protected from all threats from lesser civilisations by their great power. But this was to change. Suddenly and terribly, the Time Lords faced the most dangerous crisis in their long history..." ::- The Doctor Part Two Part Three Part Four Background information *Writing about this story for the fanzine Skaro in 1982, writer Robert Holmes explained his own conception of the Time Lords: "I had, first of all, to decide what sort of people the Time Lords were. I noticed that over the years they had produced quite a few galactic lunatics - the Meddlesome Monk, the Master, Omega, Morbius. How did this square with the received notion that the Time Lords were a bunch of omnipotent do-gooders? Could it be that this notion had been put about the Time Lords themselves? Heresy! Most damning of all, at the end of "The War Games", they condemned the Doctor to exile for interfering in the affairs of other planets and yet who had sent him on half these missions? They had! Obviously, either the Time Lords were all hypocrites or someone unknown to their High Command, was running a 'dirty tricks' department." Holmes took the view that a "dirty tricks" department did indeed exist in Time Lord society and so introduced the concept of the Celestial Intervention Agency. It is suggested in this story that the Doctor had perhaps been involved with this agency at some time in his past. *The staser pistols and rifles are made of Perspex. This reflects Roger Murray-Leach's idea that Gallifrey should look as though it was made of glass. *Gold Usher was conceived as a figure with ceremonial duties, comparable to Black Rod in the British Parliament. *The script calls the rifle "one of the light sporting types used for Zorn-stalking." *The script describes the torture device used by Commander Hildred as a "portable koppler drill." *In the script, the tablets Spandrell is seen eating from time to time are described as stomach tablets. *An unused caption slide proposed for the credits of the final episode read: "We thank the High Court of the Time Lords and the Keeper of Records, Gallifrey, for their help and co-operation." Links and references Cast *Doctor Who - Tom Baker *The President - Llewellyn Rees *Chancellor Goth - Bernard Horsfall *Castellan Spandrell - George Pravda *Cardinal Borusa - Angus MacKay *The Master - Peter Pratt *Commentator Runcible - Hugh Walters *Co-ordinator Engin - Erik Chitty *Commander Hilred - Derek Seaton *Gold Usher - Maurice Quick *Time Lord - John Dawson *Time Lord - Michael Bilton *Solis - Peter Mayock *Voice - Helen Blatch Uncredited performers *Harry Fielder as a Chancellery Guard (1-2,4) *David Goody as soldier with horse (2) *Pat Gorman as **Chancellery Guard (2) **Poind (1) *Bernard Horsfall as **Clown (3) **Samurai (2) *Chris Jesson as masked biplane pilot (2) *Brian Nolan as Runcible's camera technician (1) *David Smith as three train drivers (2-3) Crew *Written by Robert Holmes *Directed by David Maloney *Produced by Philip Hinchcliffe *Fight Arranger / Double - Terry Walsh *Stuntman - Eddie Powell *Incidental Music - Dudley Simpson *Title Music - Ron Grainer and the BBC Radiophonic Workshop *Title Sequence - Bernard Lodge *Production Assistant - Nicholas Howard John *Production Unit Manager - Christopher D'Oyly-John *Film Cameraman - Fred Hamilton *Film Recordist - Graham Bedwell *Film Editor - Ian McKendrick *Visual Effects Designers - **Peter Day **Len Hutton *Special Sound - Dick Mills *Studio Lighting - Brian Clemett *Studio Sound - Clive Gifford *Costume Designers - **James Acheson **Joan Ellacott *Make-up Artist - Jean Williams *Designer - Roger Murray-Leach References 309906 APC net; Arcalians; architect; artron energy; biogdata; biplane; black hole; blood pressure; Book of the Old Time; brain; camera; the Capitol; Capitol Museum; carbon dioxide; cardinal; Castellan; Celestial Intervention Agency; Chancellery; Chancellery Guard; Chancellor; clown; commander; Constantinople; Constitution of Gallifrey; crocodile; cypher indent key; dormouse; Earth; ebonite; engineer; extrasensory perception; Eye of Harmony; fly; Gallifrey; Gallifreyan language; Gallifreyan mouse; Gold Usher; Great Key of Rassilon; grenade; High Council of the Time Lords; hookah; hypnosis; Malfeasance Tribunal; the Master's TARDIS; mathematics; the Matrix; matter condensation; mica; Mutter's Spiral; neuron; Old Time; Pandak III; Panopticon; Patrexes; patrol staser; political prisoner; portable koppler drill; Presidential Resignation Day; President of the Council; Prydon Academy; Prydonian Chapter; Prydonian Seal; Public Register Video; Rassilon; reader; regeneration; resignation honours list; samurai; Sash of Rassilon; Sector 7; Shibogan; spider; staser pistol; staser rifle; stomach tablet; telepathy; telescopic rifle; Tersurus; Time Lord; transduction barrier; tricophenyladehyde; TT capsule; Type 40; wrist communicator Category:Doctor Who serials and episodes